The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, novel by Milan Kundera, written in Czech as Kniha smíchu a zapomnění but originally published in French as Le Livre du rire et de l’oubli (1979). The political situation in the former country of Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia), where history and memory are manipulated to suit those in power, becomes a symbol for all of contemporary European culture.

The novel is written in seven parts with an interwoven structure that the author likened to polyphony in music. Each part is a different story, and the stories are seemingly unrelated. The repetition of incidents, characters, and themes provides The Book of Laughter and Forgetting with its formal shape. Memories, which the characters want to keep or to forget, are a recurring subject, as is laughter, which is as often ironic as joyous.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper, Senior Editor.